UK Advertising Board Rules for Apple in Dispute over Thinnest Smartphone

Wednesday September 14, 2011 9:18 am PDT by Eric Slivka

As noted by TechCrunch, the United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority has ruled in favor of Apple in a dispute with Samsung over which manufacturer offers the thinnest smartphone for sale in the country. The dispute over which company could lay claim to the title for marketing purposes arose because of the Samsung Galaxy S II's form factor, which includes a sizable hump.

Samsung’s svelte new model is indeed thinner at certain points, measuring in at 8.71mm at its thinnest. It’s a considerable enough difference from the iPhone 4′s 9.3mm depth that it would’ve been a clear victory were it not for the Galaxy S II’s 9.91mm thick hump.

The ASA ruled that since the iPhone’s thickest point is thinner than the Galaxy S II’s thickest, Apple has the right to continue claiming the title.

Apple and Samsung are of course also locked in a series of much more important legal disputes centered around claims of patent and design infringement.

Related roundups: iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6

Top Rated Comments

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SockRolid

Posted: 37 months ago

"My humps, my humps, my ugly Samsung humps..."

Rating: 26 Votes

bigcat318

Posted: 37 months ago

Thank god, I can finally rest easy tonight knowing which giant corporation produced the thinnest cell phone.

Rating: 20 Votes

Moonjumper

Posted: 37 months ago

You measure the height of a car according to roof height, not bonnet height. It is the same with phones, measure to the thickest point.

Rating: 19 Votes

bigjnyc

Posted: 37 months ago

It's getting pretty ugly between these 2 companies now.

Rating: 17 Votes

miknos

Posted: 37 months ago

Apple could make a tiny chin and say the iPhone is 1mm thick.

Rating: 14 Votes

DeeEss

Posted: 37 months ago

Seriously, this long standing bitch fight between these two companies is tiresome and childish.

Please - STOP

Rating: 13 Votes

dethmaShine

Posted: 37 months ago

Seems a little arbitrary. Why not just average the thickness of the entire device, and use that?

Is that a joke?

Rating: 10 Votes

bmms8

Posted: 37 months ago

i agree that it should be looked at the thickest points. those humps add thickness to the device. all measurements should be given that way.

Rating: 9 Votes

Shrink

Posted: 37 months ago

Another Apple win.

Samsung needs to change out their legal team.

Or . . . stop messing with others' IP.

And a highly significant and important win it is. :rolleyes: :D

Made your day, did it? ;)

Rating: 8 Votes

TheMacBookPro

Posted: 37 months ago

Another Apple win.

Except Apple, in most peoples' eyes, lost the 'Galaxy S infringement' case. All they managed to do was convince the judges that the Gallery app (which, btw, is built into every Android phone, and is not specific to Samsung) infringes on Apple's swiping patents.

Their main case (the Galaxy S looks exactly the same as the iPhone) was thrown out.

Just fyi.

Samsung needs to change out their legal team.

See above... they evidently do not.

Or . . . stop messing with others' IP.

The UK advertising board says that Apple has the right to claim that they have the thinnest smartphone. How does that have anything to do with Samsung 'messing' with Apple's IP?

Read up on what IP means (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property), then post.

Either way, neither the iPhone 4 nor the GSII are the thinnest smartphone in the world. The NEC MEDIAS N-04C is, at 7.7mm thin (throughout the entire body). Even the waterproof N-06C is thinner than the iP4/GSII, at 7.9mm.